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Didn't they market these as "Burger Buddies" in the late 80s?

Adam, if you fired the LHC proton beam into a pizza target, not only would it be defrosted in those nanoseconds, but it would be annihilated. Which wouldn't be a far cry from what Domino's produces on a daily basis in terms of culinary merit.

I may have been exaggerating things just a tad for comic effect, but I will say this, racism still exists in the South, and particularly in Columbia. Yes, there are many progressive people in Columbia, its a university town, but its moments like these where you get a major shiver down your spine:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/offthebroiler/2587905244/

This is a rail car which is permanently sitting next to the famous Adluh Flour plant in downtown Columbia, which is right off of the trendy historic "Vista" area where all the trendy bars and restaurants are in all the restored brick buildings, some of which date back to the Civil War Period. The Publix supermarket which is only a few blocks away is actually the fomer site of the Confederate Printing Press. The graffiti that is on this rail car might not be immediately recognizable to everyone, but those are the "White Knight" symbols of the Ku Klux Klan. Needless to say I was a bit freaked out when I saw this when walking around the corner to the local overpriced "Stuff on the wall" TGI Fridays clone.

Cod: You didn't see the two huge 300 pound plus good 'ol boy cops from the SC correctional system that were staring at me as I photographed the place. I got in and out of that place so fast you have no idea.

I do want to add a couple of other comments here. You will notice that on the Home Depot site, the product has a particularly low rating. This is largely because most people think that a smoker is like a toaster, in that you throw meat into it and expect it to come out perfectly cooked and smoked without having to babysit it. Barbecue is not an automatic process -- you need to monitor your meat every 15 minutes or so and make sure you are maintaining temperature. You have to stoke the charcoals every so often and add new charcoals as needed. You will need to add new wood chips every hour if you want a strong smoky flavor. You also need to use more of them than you think you do. For 3 hour smoke, you are going to go thru 5 to 8lbs of charcoal if you are using Kingsfords. You will use less if you are using lump charcoal. Also, the basic Brinkmann has ventilation issues in the charcoal bowl, so you will want to drill a whole bunch of holes in it and get a small baking sheet to catch ashes on the bottom. I also recommend you get yourself a chimney starter, because otherwise you are going to use a lot of lighter fluid.

If you can put up with these issues, the Brinkmann is a great starter smoker. Its definitely on the low end of smokers. For about three or four times the price, you can get a Weber Smoky Mountain (the "bullet") and not have to babysit it so much.

http://www.amazon.com/Weber-2820-Smokey-Mountain-Cooker/dp/B00004U9VA/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1215098878&sr=8-1

But you won't necessarily get better results in terms of the end product.

Which is by the way the WORST. STAR TREK. EPISODE. EVER.

Next to Spock's Brain, that is.

More about Big Apple BBQ Block Party:

http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2008/05/24/nyc-dining-2008-big-apple-barbecue-block-party-web-site-launches/

More about Ed Mitchell:

http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2008/04/30/podcast-45-whole-hog-at-the-pit-with-ed-mitchell/

As to the "appearances" issue -- also referred to the "mar'it ayin " in the Talmud:

Bac-O's are certified by the Orthodox Union. Nobody passing by an orthodox jew eating in a kosher restaurant with a kosher salad bar stocking Bac-O's are ever going to confuse someone with eating real bacon. Same with using Soy protein on top of a burger. You can call it a cheeseburger, but it ain't.

I say they put Bac-O's or Turkey Bacon on top of the Soy Cheese and the burger and go for the triple whammy, the Kosher Bacon Cheeseburger.

I'll tell you who I think should replace him -- Michael Lomonaco. Nobody is more personable and "real" than Michael.

If you can afford it, I am very partial to the oils sold by Jim Dixon at the Real Good Food website:

http://www.realgoodfood.com

Dixon is a boutique olive oil importer, I am especially fond of the Bettini which is an organic olive oil from Umbria, which is a very fruity and peppery oil.

We did this a number of years ago and it was great fun.

http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2006/02/14/a-white-castle-valentine/

Priller: I think you can have a okra-less gumbo, particularly if you are using heavy amounts of meat and no seafood. But then you have to use file' to compensate.

I think you need to have a roux to be a gumbo, not necessarily okra,.